Gillian Anderson’s Runway Debut Has The Internet In Shambles
The ‘X-Files’ star’s Paris Fashion Week runway moment left sapphics everywhere gasping for air.
Featured image by Pierre Suu/Getty Images
Gillian Anderson has added a new title to her already long résumé: runway model. The 56-year-old actor and bicon made her catwalk debut at Paris Fashion Week, walking for L’Oréal Paris in a silver, chain-print gown during the brand’s annual showcase in front of Paris City Hall.
The show, called Liberty. Equality. Sisterhood. Because You’re Worth It., celebrated women of all ages and backgrounds, with Anderson joining a line-up that included Helen Mirren, Jane Fonda, Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, and Kendall Jenner.
Speaking with People before the event, Anderson admitted she had been trying not to dwell on the pressure of the moment.
“I’ve been slightly not wanting to think about it because obviously it’s a big deal [and] I’ve never walked a catwalk before. [But] it’s an honor to be asked, and it’s really important what it stands for and the fact that L’Oréal is an inclusive brand that really embraces such a diverse community.”
Anderson also said she found new meaning in L’Oréal’s iconic slogan after watching a documentary on Ilon Specht, the woman who created it in 1971.
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“She is such a firecracker. The way that she talks about why she came up with that slogan oh so many years ago, she’s literally lying on the bed with her 80-something beautiful wrinkled face, basically saying f**k you to all the men who doubted her. And I thought, ‘You know what? I get it now. I get what it means. I get the importance of it. I get the history of it.’ I see it as a courageous, bold, feminist statement because it’s about self-value.”
That confidence translated to the runway, where Anderson looked relaxed, radiant, and very much at home among professional models and fellow stars.
Suffice it to say, sapphic social media wasn’t prepared:
Between the launch of a soft drink brand called G Spot and her upcoming role in Jane Schoenbrun’s horror film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Anderson has no shortage of projects on her plate. And after Paris, it’s safe to say she can add “catwalk conqueror” to the long list of things she appears to do effortlessly.
